Mad About Shanghai

Tips on Starting a Digital Business in China

I put the quotes below in italics as they are provided by someone else. I am sharing them because they make sense and would be useful to (aspiring) digital entrepreneurs out there.

Speed and size is the utmost essential

In China, the formula for success in digital is :

1) Understand your customer

2) First mover advantage is everything. The solution does not need to be perfect. Being digital, it can be changed easily.

3) Design solutions that are scalable and implement quickly.

4) Grow your base fast.

Be quick before regulations and competitors can restrict you. Once you are big, even the government cant control you.

Mobile Payment and eWallets in China

It seems Alipay is taking China by storm.

Have are you currently an Alipay user?

Check out this video. Yes. It's actually possible to get around on some days in China without a wallet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nMCkzyRu3E

An Article to Share: A Hundred Apps Bloom in China as Millions Bank on Their Phones

China has really come a long way in terms of digital.

Because of banking red tapes, high level of fraud / cyber crimes and differing consumption patterns in provinces and areas to name a few, as early as ten years ago,  many spectators around the world have speculated that digital and ecommerce would never succeed in China.

Today, digital is very much part of the everyday lives of the metropolitan Chinese. They have progress with such speed that despite such a big territory and customer base they have put to shame my more advanced countries.

Gone are the copy cat days of old. They are showing the world how to do it.

I share with you one article from Bloomberg:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-19/wechat-baidu-and-alibaba-help-chinese-embrace-digital-banking

Chinese Mobile Phones : Hua Wei

Having been impressed by the XiaoMi Note I bought earlier, I am again impressed by the quality of the Hua Wei series of mobile phone at a recent telecommunication exhibtion.

Incidentally, it has been reported recently in a report that Hua Wei has become the third biggest seller of mobile phones in the world. The other close competitorS from China remains Lenovo and XiaoMi.

Though still a copy cat (they are built exactly like a iPhone or a Samsung), the quality remains solid and comfortable in the hand:

Xiaomi Mobile Phones

Have you heard of the Xiao Mi brand of mobile phone ? 

While there have been many other brands of China made mobile phones like Hua Wei, Lenovo and Meizhu which are surprisngly of very good quality, the one that has taken China by storm is this brand. 

They even managed to poached former Google executive, Hugo Barra onto their payroll not too long ago.

Literally meant  "small rice" , their products are priced at unbelievable value, (check out the prices on their Singapore page). I bought a XiaoMi Note online for about US$140. I also bought the Xiao Mi 10400 mAh powerbank for just slightly more than US10.

Surprising, they dont feel cheap and surpassed my expectations.

The quality is really not too bad for its price:

Unbelivable value! 

The Drivers of eCommerce in Asia Pacific

The Drivers of eCommerce in Asia Pacific by SP eCommerce.

Click to enlarge. 

The Showdown: Amazon vs Alibaba

Alibaba's IPO and Ecosystem

Finally Alibaba has IPOed at US$68 a piece. Overnight, the stocks rocketed 38% and it became a company with a market value of US$167 billion.

Pretty close to IBM's US$193 billion market cap at the time of writing. Thats really not too bad at all.

Let us take a look at how Alibaba's ecosystem works:

Source: US Securities and Exchange Commission and Forrester

China Digital Stats 2014

The population of China is estimated to be 1.36 billion, with 53% living in urban areas.
(SOURCE: WE ARE SOCIAL)

The country has 618 million internet users with an internet penetration rate of 45%.
(SOURCE: WE ARE SOCIAL)

Among Chinese who went online for the first time in 2013, 73.3% did so from a smartphone, making
smartphone users the driving force behind growth in internet use in this market.
(SOURCE: CHINA INTERNET NETWORK INFORMATION CENTRE)

Broadband coverage in rural areas expanded to 91% at the end of 2013 from 88% earlier in the
year.
(SOURCE: PEOPLE’S POSTS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS NEWS)

The number of households with fixed-line broadband increased by 19 million to 189 million in 2013.
(SOURCE: PEOPLE’S POSTS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS NEWS)

China had 400 million 3G users at the end of 2013, having added 169 million subscribers during the year.
(SOURCE: PEOPLE’S POSTS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS NEWS)

The number of 4G smartphones shipped to the Chinese market in 2014 is forecast to rise to 72.4 million, nearly 16 times the number the year before. 4G phone shipments are forecast to make up 19% of the smartphone market in 2014.
(SOURCE: IHS TECHNOLOGY)

The proportion of China’s internet users who went online with a mobile device rose to 81% in 2013 from 74.5% the year before.
(SOURCE: CHINA INTERNET NETWORK INFORMATION CENTRE)

The proportion of users that accessed the internet with a desktop fell by 0.8 percentage point to 69.7% in 2013.The proportion that accessedthe internet from a laptop fell by 1.8 percentage points to 44.1%.
(SOURCE: CHINA INTERNET NETWORK INFORMATION CENTRE)

China’s search engine market was worth RMB11.16 billion in the first quarter of 2014. Excluding channel revenue, Baidu had 79% of the market, Google China had 12.8% and Sogou 5.4%.
(SOURCE: ENFODESK)

Including channel revenue, Baidu had 77.1% of the country’s search engine market in the first quarter of 2014, Google China had 11% and Sogou 8.1%.
(SOURCE: ENFODESK)

Baidu remained the search engine market leader in China in the first quarter of 2014 as Chinese advertisers continued to give keyword advertising priority and mobile search helped support revenue.
(SOURCE: ENFODESK)

Google’s share of the country’s search engine market kept shrinking in the first quarter of 2014,but its main revenue – from helping Chinese advertisers reach markets abroad – was steady.
(SOURCE: ENFODESK)

Apple Stores in Shanghai

If you are visiting Shanghai, interestingly, one of the places you have to visit are the Apple stores.

Its HUGE!

This is the one Regine and I visited in the relatively new IFC Mall.